Tired

Price

£600 (£500 without speakers)

Denon's latest do-it-all music system packs in CD player, iPod/iPhone
dock, FM/AM and internet radio as well as
network streaming. So far, so normal, but it's also one of the
first devices to be compatible with Apple's new AirPlay streaming system that
allows it to integrate with iTunes on
your computer, making this whole network streaming business that
bit easier.

First though, the basics. The Ceol (pron kee-ohl -- Gaelic for
music, apparently) is a compact 28x11x30cm, only available in white
plastic with a design that sparks memories of early iPod models,
long before they got all touchy-feely.

At the front is a large OLED display with three lines of text
(not a lot, but at least you can read it from the other side of the
room), plus player controls, a slide-out CD disc tray, 3.5mm
headphone jack, aux input (for non-Apple music players) and a USB
port, which allows you to play back tracks from a memory stick.

On top is a covered iPod/iPhone dock and at the back are proper
stereo speaker binding posts, subwoofer and aux analogue
in/outputs, optical in, aerials for FM/AM radio and Wi-Fi, as well
as an Ethernet port.

It comes with a pair of Denon's SC-N7 speakers, which have a
revealing midrange and sweet tone in the upper register, but are
severely lacking in bass. If that doesn't sound like your cup of
Metallica, you can buy the Ceol unit without them plug in your own.
The 65-watt class-D amplification can certainly drive more powerful
speakers than these.

The Ceol's DLNA capability meant it was easy to hook it up to my
Wi-Fi network. It found the network straight away and once
connected I was instantly able to access internet radio. Streaming
was no problem either, both for connecting to shared folders on my
PC, and for playing back the tunes stored on my Buffalo LinkStation
Mini NAS server. It recognised playlists I'd set up in Windows Media Player, too.